This is what you’ll be getting with the new OnePlus 5

After many rumors and leaks, the latest flagship of OnePlus has finally been revealed. Called the OnePlus 5 (rather than 4 because of Chinese superstitions), the Android smartphone features all the bells and some of the whistles one would expect from a flagship. Here’s everything we know about the OnePlus 5 and what it brings to the table.

This is the OnePlus 5 (Image credits: Phone Arena)

The OnePlus 5 – A body resembling that of an iPhone

The OnePlus 5 is the thinnest flagship phone released by the company to date, measuring at a mere 7.25 mm thin. At first glance, you’ll find a 5.5-inch AMOLED Full-HD screen covered in Gorilla Glass 5 just above the home button, which also serves as its fingerprint scanner. While you won’t have to worry about scratches, you also won’t find a Quad-HD screen like other flagship phones.

On the sides, you’ll find the power along with volume control buttons and at the bottom a USB Type-C port next to a 3.5mm headphone jack. With these sides measuring at a mere 7.25 mm thin, the OnePlus 5 is the company’s thinnest phone to date. On the back, you’ll find the phone’s dual cameras with the OnePlus logo imprinted on it.

Image credits: Mobile Syrup

Take all these physical attributes together and one can’t help but think that the OnePlus 5 resembles an iPhone. However, as the saying goes, “the devil lies in the details.” There are subtle differences that separate the OnePlus 5 from an iPhone. For starters, the camera lenses are protected by sapphire glass and the notification LED along with captive backlights are invisible when not active. Furthermore, the OnePlus 5 features flat edges on its side and more curved back. Yet, these are at the end of the day subtle differences that not everyone will notice on a daily basis.

Extremely snappy performance

The Oneplus 5 packs the latest Snapdragon 835 processor by Qualcomm. This is essentially an octa-core processor with 8 cores. Four of these cores are for heavy duty work such as gaming. Whereas the other four would be used for day to day activities. Though nothing new, it does help reduce battery consumption in the long run as you don’t really need four high-performance cores to upload a selfie on Snapchat or Instagram, or even to update your Facebook status for that matter.

The specifications of the OnePlus 5 (Image credits: Phone Arena)

If you are a multi-tasker and you have at least 20-25 apps running on your phone at any given time, you might have noticed that your phone gets a bit laggy. If you’re using a flagship from yesteryear, then it won’t be so prevalent, but apparently, OnePlus wants to go the extra mile and ensure that you won’t ever run out of memory. As such, the OnePlus 5 is available with up to 8GB of RAM. This pretty much ensures that no matter how many apps you’re running you’ll have a smooth experience. Powering all this is a 3,300mAH battery, which is slightly smaller than the 3,400mAH battery found in the OnePlus 3T.

OxygenOS gets an update

When it comes to software, you’ll find Android 7.1.1 running on the OnePlus 5 with OxygenOS. Unlike many other manufacturers, OxygenOS is one of the closest options you’ll get to a stock Android experience. Of course, the company does add its own set of tweaks to improve functionality. One such feature is “app priority”, which learns what apps you use the most and has them loaded once you switch the OnePlus 5 on.

The new reading mode is one of the most popular new features of the upcoming version of OxygenOS (Image credits: Phone Arena)

The latest version of OxygenOS also includes a new reading mode that filters out blue light to make it easier for you view your screen. This new reading mode can be applied to specific apps or be active whenever you use the OnePlus5. Furthermore, OxygenOS is also bringing scrolling screenshots, a new app drawer, new screen-off gestures, customizable notification vibrations, a do not disturb mode when you’re gaming, and a new “Secure Box” to keep your files safe.

The Camera

One of the biggest updates to the OnePlus 5, is the camera setup. On the front, you’ll find a 16MP camera with a “screen flash” option for low light and HDR support as well. On the rear, you’ll find a dual camera setup, which is becoming the norm with flagship smartphones these days. The OnePlus 5 features a dual-camera system with a 16MP main full-color sensor and a secondary 20MP monochrome sensor. Just like iPhone, the OnePlus 5 also features a Portrait Mode to enhance photos. And when it comes to videos, the OnePlus 5 can shoot in 4K. Below are some sample shots from the OnePlus 5 camera.

Image credits: OnePlus

Image credits: OnePlus

Image credits: OnePlus

Pricing and final thoughts on the OnePlus 5

The OnePlus 5 starts off with the variant with the color of Slate Gray with 6GB of RAM and 64GB storage at $479. The 8GB RAM with 128GB storage variant in Midnight Black will cost you $539. That’s still around LKR73,000/- and LKR 82,000/- respectively. Gone are the days when OnePlus devices were cheap. It’s super fast, has a good battery coupled with Dash Charging that gives a full day of use with a 30 minute charge. The camera too takes pretty good portraits and low-light shots. The cons here are that it costs more than any previous model. Gone are the days when OnePlus devices were cheap and cost effective. In terms of design too, it’s nothing new to drool over. Plus it still doesn’t have expandable storage. Since you’re anyway paying a premium for it, it wouldn’t hurt to add a MicroSD slot as well.

Event Details

Venture Frontier Lanka is bringing experts in entrepreneurship from around the country to cities throughout Sri Lanka to train local entrepreneurs to think differently about the ventures they will start.

Event Details

Venture Frontier Lanka is bringing experts in entrepreneurship from around the country to cities throughout Sri Lanka to train local entrepreneurs to think differently about the ventures they will start. A caravan stop consists of different sessions about creating unique ideas for startup ventures and strategies for financing those ideas.

Come join the sessions on the 19th of December, starting with 2 pm at Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology.
The event is free of charge! REGISTRATION is mandatory for this event

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Early Bird till the 16th of Dec: 20% discount
Likuid Members: 20% discount
Female/Social Entrepreneurs (Locals Only): 50% discount
Join for a one day workshop where we unchain the collective wisdom and creativity

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Join for a one day workshop where we unchain the collective wisdom and creativity to help each other having a more productive digital nomad new year and build better cooperations for teamwork.

During this peer to peer learning session you can share your experiences to help others and learn from other practitioners. Together, dive into the most painful problems and brainstorm on solutions. It’s for you if you resonate with some of these questions:

How do I integrate work, life and travel?
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ABOUT THE METHOD:
“We create space for meaningful conversations, experimental and peer to peer learning. Nothing frontal, no preaching. But space for your very unique questions.”

ABOUT THE HOST:
Kitti is a digital nomad herself and a marketing consultant for innovative companies and early stage startups. She is a conversation ambassador for tedxdanubia, hosted meaningful conversations on ideas worth spreading. In the past years she worked in self organized teams, practiced facilitation, joined peer to peer networks, decentralized teams and cocreated a collective of freelancers. She is a cofounder of a sustainability startup that just secured its first round of investment. Worked as a mentor for many startups, and in the meantime she visited more than 15 countries.

Are you a Sri Lankan female entrepreneur or a local social business? Reach out for your discounted tickets!

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Karthik ( Associate Director, DTCC & Co-organiser of Hyperledger Chennai Meetup) will be here for the 2nd Hyperledger meetup.
He will share his experience with Hyperledger and Business application of Blockchain